What is considered "heavily planted"?

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fishorama

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No excuses for being old, I am too!! lol, but no smart phone here...or sausage making either...Geez, I hope Shiela is appreciative of some of your skills...& you of hers...
 

dougall

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We were both making sausages ;)
 

Jennifer G.

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dougall, I think your links might be meant for the poster asking for where to buy high end bettas in General Freshwater.

Jennifer, I would not get just 1 oto, they really do better in a group. I've had a lone survivor a few times & always feel sad for it, but not enough to add more for 1 aging oto. If you decide to try them look for ones that look well fed & if possible see them eat &/or poo. They often are starved & may not recover, many don't.

Hikari algae wafers are ok but some others have better ingredients. Omega 1 algae wafers look much better. In all foods, read the label. Wheat should not be among the first few items, some for a binder is ok.

I use Repashy Soilent Green gel food for my auf wuchs grazers (hillstream loaches & gobies). I haven't kept otos since discovering this food but I may in the future. Auf wuchs are not just algae but the tiny microcritters that live in & on the algae, sources of protein & other good stuff. Auf wuchs are really what most "alge eaters" live on.

I love how varied your betta's diet is! Fabulous! I admit to never giving organic peas, now I feel like a cheap slacker, lol.

If you like shrimp, I strongly suggest adding an Amano, they're bigger than cherry shrimp but not as pretty. See if it'll help with diatoms & how aggressive your betta may be toward tankmates. I think you & your kids might like it & maybe want a second. The other good thing is shrimp don't carry many diseases that effect fish, so not having a quarantine tank is likely ok. Just don't add any lfs water...if you possibly can avoid it.
I got my betta Omega 1 pellets due to the ingredients vs the others...would only make sense to get their algae wafers too :) I've also heard nothing but good things about many Repashy type foods (fry powder, gel food etc). Will have to read up on where I can get some if I choose the oto route.

I would LOVE to have shrimp over any other "clean up crews". The issue might be my water parameters. I plan to order my fish from Rachel O'leary only because being new to all of this, she's the only person that I know that quarantine's everything that gets shipped to her. I'm sure there are others that do too, I just don't know who. According to her website (msjinkzd.com) the only shrimp I might be able to keep are Caridina cf. cantonensis "Tiger"...and maybe some Crystal Reds or Caridina cf. breviata "bumble bee".

I like how she adds who likes what Ph, kh, temp, size, diet etc. I have a Ph of 7.5 (without co2) 6.8 with co2. Kh of 3, Gh of 4. Ammonia is always at 0, same for nitrites. Nitrates only show 5ppm after dosing ferts but 3-4 days later my nitrates are also at 0-1ppm. The only thing I don't know is my tds...don't have one of those pen thingies yet. Per Rachels site, Amano's like a minimum of 8 kh. I'm no where near experienced enough to start tampering with stuff to change my parameters and I'd rather choose fish based on my individual tanks water readings. Safer that way I think.
 

Jennifer G.

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Oops... You are right.

Being old, having a short attention span, trying to use my phone and being in the middle of making sausages was too much :/

Perhaps a staff member will be so kind to move it.


And sorry Jennifer.


I am really of the mind that otocinclus will do better in a group than one or two of them... And their behaviour is really quite awesome to see too.
No, no! I'm not opposed to browsing for quality bettas :D Please keep the link!

Your post made coffee nearly shoot out my nose btw! Hilarious!!
 

fishorama

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LOL! snort! D dougall

Jennifer, I haven't kept Amano shrimp (I hope you understood that) but there's a big "squish factor" as to their "ideal" vs "acceptable" parameters. I think Rachel is aces! But many of our animals can adapt to a wide range of conditions. A guy in my club breeds amanos even though they need a pelagic salt water "junior" grow out period. 1 shrimp to try? Yeah, do it, lol. Your water isn't too far off the map of "normal-ish".
 

Jennifer G.

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LOL! snort! D dougall

Jennifer, I haven't kept Amano shrimp (I hope you understood that) but there's a big "squish factor" as to their "ideal" vs "acceptable" parameters. I think Rachel is aces! But many of our animals can adapt to a wide range of conditions. A guy in my club breeds amanos even though they need a pelagic salt water "junior" grow out period. 1 shrimp to try? Yeah, do it, lol. Your water isn't too far off the map of "normal-ish".
I'd be willing to try a very long and gentle acclimation period for sure. I just cringe at the thought of killing something. Death due to not knowing what their water parameters are vs what I have is one thing... I really am trying to educate myself as much as I possibly can for the sake of the critters and to make things easier for me. There is SO MUCH info I've been cramming into my brain for the last 2 months...can be overwhelming at times. Worst part is knowing there is still SO MUCH to learn :eek:
 

FreshyFresh

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You gals/guys had me at sausage....

But anyway.. Just to add to all the good stuff above, to me, heavily planted means your tank is all about the plants, with a some fish in there for effect.

I'm lucky in that my two tanks that contain plants, are very well filled out with these basic plants. I do absolutely nothing for them aside from provide lighting and weekly water changes. I do not vacuum the substrate in these tanks. I used to add a glutaral product for CO2 and various Seachem liquid ferts and occasional root tabs for the rooted plants. Kind of lost interest and stopped the adds. The plants continued on like nothing happened.

Plants are various anubia, java ferns, java moss, swords and crypts. Most were pathetic petsmart/co bag/tube plants in a previous life.
 

fishorama

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I say "heavily" planted has almost no substrate visible & not much tank area without plants...barely room for fish to swim, lol. A true "jungle"!! But hopefully not with a ton'o'duckweed like 2 of my tanks :(.

My river-ish tank probably qualifies, what with "jungle" val, crypts, java fen & moss, bolbitus & a couple stems heavily shaded by duckweed & val. I don't really try to "scape" this tank, I often just rip out handfuls of plants, scoop out duckweed & rinse prefilters each water change.

This definition of heavily planted is pretty much what I mean when I say silent cycling, wall to wall plants...but my sewellia breed & I "think" my danios do too, so I'm happy with it.

My tank, like Freshy's, has been set up for years, 5+ years in my case. Lots of poo & leaf debris rotting into the substrate to provide food...for plants & fry.

Jennifer, your tank has enough plants for your betta & an Amano shrimp or 2 even though most are medium/slow growers. You're doing it right!! (except for that uprooting staurogyne thing, lol).

We're going to need more pics in a bit...

You might ask to see water test results from your lfs., or take home a tank water sample & test yourself. Those numbers will help you to decide how long you acclimation needs to be. Of course we can help, but I tend to go long on that, :cool:, it's all good!
 

Jennifer G.

AC Members
Nov 20, 2017
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You gals/guys had me at sausage....

But anyway.. Just to add to all the good stuff above, to me, heavily planted means your tank is all about the plants, with a some fish in there for effect.

I'm lucky in that my two tanks that contain plants, are very well filled out with these basic plants. I do absolutely nothing for them aside from provide lighting and weekly water changes. I do not vacuum the substrate in these tanks. I used to add a glutaral product for CO2 and various Seachem liquid ferts and occasional root tabs for the rooted plants. Kind of lost interest and stopped the adds. The plants continued on like nothing happened.

Plants are various anubia, java ferns, java moss, swords and crypts. Most were pathetic petsmart/co bag/tube plants in a previous life.
The plants I have in my tank are also the pathetic bag/tube ones from those exact chains too. Selection is pretty slim, they're sickly looking...but they had me at "snail/pest free". :rolleyes:
 

Jennifer G.

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Nov 20, 2017
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I say "heavily" planted has almost no substrate visible & not much tank area without plants...barely room for fish to swim, lol. A true "jungle"!! But hopefully not with a ton'o'duckweed like 2 of my tanks :(.

My river-ish tank probably qualifies, what with "jungle" val, crypts, java fen & moss, bolbitus & a couple stems heavily shaded by duckweed & val. I don't really try to "scape" this tank, I often just rip out handfuls of plants, scoop out duckweed & rinse prefilters each water change.

This definition of heavily planted is pretty much what I mean when I say silent cycling, wall to wall plants...but my sewellia breed & I "think" my danios do too, so I'm happy with it.

My tank, like Freshy's, has been set up for years, 5+ years in my case. Lots of poo & leaf debris rotting into the substrate to provide food...for plants & fry.

Jennifer, your tank has enough plants for your betta & an Amano shrimp or 2 even though most are medium/slow growers. You're doing it right!! (except for that uprooting staurogyne thing, lol).

We're going to need more pics in a bit...

You might ask to see water test results from your lfs., or take home a tank water sample & test yourself. Those numbers will help you to decide how long you acclimation needs to be. Of course we can help, but I tend to go long on that, :cool:, it's all good!
I've been to the Petsmart/Co and the 1 and only mom&pop petstore that doesn't only cater to cats and dogs with the tiniest fish section/selection area. The big chains scare me tbh. Everytime time I've been in there I always see 2-5 dead fish in varying degrees of decay in a few of their tanks (oddly enough not the crazy overstocked goldfish tank though). I'm assuming they're all running on a single filtration system so I'm paranoid they're all infested with the plague. As for mom&pop...feeder fish, guppies, a knifefish and oscars...ugh o_O

I plan to order from Rachel. I know she has a youtube video where she tells her parameters, but I plan on emailing her to discuss details where I'll share with her mine and figure out what will do best, tank size and fish numbers. I trust her :)
 
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